BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission voted unanimously to place a 3/16 of a percent sales tax to fund county 911 services on the April 5, 2016, election ballot at their regular meeting Monday. All three commissioners noted that more funding was needed to purchase equipment and provide the best possible 911 service to county residents.
Currently County 911 Services is funded completely through a fee on land telephone lines.
Commissioner Danny Talkington said after reviewing the request and looking at the needed equipment upgrades, he saw the need for more funding for the service. He said the county lacked the ability to pin-point the locations of 911 callers, and that the necessary equipment to provide that information was needed and expensive.
"When someone calls 911and they are in need, we need to be able to locate that caller," said Talkington.
Talkington said the proposal by the 911 board would do away with the fees on land line telephones. He noted that these fees would continue to be collected until the sales tax began being collected, if it is passed by voters.
"I say we let the voters decide," said Talkington. He went on to note that if the tax issue doesn't pass, the commission might have to use county revenue to pay for the needed 911 equipment upgrades.
Commissioner Carol Jarrell said spoke with County 911 Administrator Carol Moreland and asked several questions about 911 funding.
Jarrell said it was up to the voters to decide "if we want to keep out 911 service."
"It is an important service to the county," said Jarrell, adding that she had heard of 911 personnel "not being able to find someone" who called 911.
"I'm in agreement to put it on the ballot," said Jarrell.
Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said he had observed the legislature's failure to put through a tax on cell phones to help pay for county 911 service. He said the county could not continue to wait for the legislature to take action. He also noted that many counties are struggling to pay for 911 service, and the legislature is trying to come up with ways to fund 911 service in rural counties with little tax base.
"We can't afford to worry about other counties," said Mathis. "We need to take care of ourselves."
Mathis said the advisory group set up by the 911 Board of Directors came to the conclusion that more funding was needed to pay for the service.
Mathis said he feels the commission has an obligation to put the tax issue on the ballot. He said 911 services was set up as an independent entity with no governing power by the commission, while it could have been put directly under the commission.
"If the tax doesn't pass," noted Mathis. "It might have to be put under our umbrella and have county revenue used to help fund the service."
Talkington made the motion to place the 911 tax issue on the April 2016 ballot, and it was seconded by Jarrell. It passed by a 3-0 vote.
County Clerk Joe Watson said he requested 2016 budgets from all office holders and that they be submitted to his office by Dec. 10. He said had received all budgets with the exception of the Juvenile Detention Center. Most of the budgets were received last Friday, he told the commission.
Watson said he was working on a 2016 county budget, and hoped to have the budget ready to submit to the commission by the end of the week. He said in looking over the financial numbers for the past year, it appeared revenues would exceed expenditures for 2015.
Mathis pointed out that the office holders have until Jan. 15, 2016, to submit a budget, but receiving them early gives the commission more time to look over the various budgets requests.